Word Hacks [Electronic resources]

Andrew Savikas

نسخه متنی -صفحه : 162/ 81

Hack 52 Control Word Startup

This hack lets you start Word with your favorite template or macro. It also shows you how to open Word with a recent or specific document, suppress the Word splash screen, and do away with the wretched default blank document.

Every day, in hundreds of millions of homes and offices around the world, Word starts the same way: a tired click of the Word item on the Start menu, the brief irritation of the well-worn Word splash screen (see Figure 6-2), and then the new blank document based on Normal.dot that almost everyone closes immediately because they need to either create a document based on another template or work with an existing document.

Figure 6-2. "Will no one rid me of this turbulent splash screen?" Startup switch /q to the rescue!

Standardization can be wonderful, but even Microsoft realizes it's not always efficient (let alone entertaining). To make things better, you can control the Word startup via startup switches. You can also augment this control over startup by using AutoMacros [Hack #60] .

6.3.1 Startup Switches

Startup switches are special commands you can provide when you launch a program. For example, select StartRun and enter the following to start Word normally:

winword

Word opens as if you launched it the usual way. But if you enter some extra commands on the line, you can tell Word to start differently. For example, select StartRun and enter the following:

winword /n

Word launches, but this time without the familiar blank document. Some switches include additional information. If you enter the following, Word will launch and create a new document based on the "Contemporary Memo" template:

winword /t"Contemporary Memo"

Note that if the template or filename used with a switch contains spaces, you need to enclose it in quotes.

Table 6-1 lists the startup switches you can use with Word, in alphabetical order.

Table 6-1. Word startup switches
Startup switch	What it does	What to use it for
/a	Prevents the loading of all global templates (including Normal.dot) and any add-ins. Prevents Word from writing data to or reading data from the registry.	Troubleshooting problems with Word startup or instability; running Word consistently in a student or lab environment.
/l`addinpath`	Loads the specified add-in or global template.	Loading an add-in or global template needed for a particular task but not for normal running of Word.
/c	Launches a new Word session and then starts NetMeeting.	Seldom if ever useful.
/m	Prevents the `AutoExec` macro (if one exists) from running.	Suppressing the running of your standard `AutoExec` macro.
/m`macro`	Runs the specified macro instead of running the `AutoExec` macro (if one exists).	Setting up a Word session in a different way than usual (for example, to perform a specific task) or running a VBA application hosted on Word.
/mfile`n`	Opens the file specified by the number on the most recently used list.	Opening the last document or documents saved in the previous session; occasionally useful.
/n	Launches a new Word session but does not create a new document based on Normal.dot.	Suppressing the creation of a useless document; launching a second or subsequent Word session.
`pathname`\`filename`	Opens the specified file or files after launching Word.	Consistently opening one or more files to work with.
/q	Suppresses the Word splash screen. Works only in some versions of Word, including Word 2000 SR-1 and Word 2003.	Preventing the splash screen from appearing, which can be good for VBA applications hosted on Word and for removing a widespread irritant.
/r	Starts Word in the background, reregisters its registry settings, and then closes Word.	Fixing registry problems. Be warned that although Word stays in the background, the Windows installer appears in the foreground for most versions of Word. Warn users before you use this switch.
/safe	Like `/a`, prevents the loading of all global templates (includingNormal.dot) and any add-ins, and prevents Word from writing data to or reading data from the registry. In addition, does not create a new document; suppresses the recovery of damaged documents and prevents the loading of smart tags, toolbar customizations, and the AutoCorrect list. Works interactively in Word XP and Word 2003.	Troubleshooting problems with Word startup or instability, especially those caused by attempting to recover damaged documents.
/t`template`	Creates a document from the specified template instead of creating a document based on Normal.dot.	Starting Word and creating the type of document you need to use.
/w	Launches a new Word session and creates a new document based on Normal.dot.	Creating multiple sessions of Word.
/x	Launches a new Word session from the operating shell, limited to responding to one DDE request.	Seldom, if ever, useful. Use `/w` instead when you need a new Word session.

You can use any of the startup switches from the StartRun dialog. However, if you want to include a switch every time Word starts, create a desktop shortcut. Every time you double-click the shortcut, Word launches with the startup switch.

To create the new shortcut, right-click your desktop and choose NewShortcut to launch the Shortcut Wizard. Click the Browse button, navigate to WINWORD.EXE (for Office 2003, that's in C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\OFFICE11), and click the OK button. The Shortcut Wizard fills in the full path. At the end of the path, include the switch /n, as shown in Figure 6-3, and then click the Next button.

Figure 6-3. Creating a customized Word startup shortcut

The wizard asks you to name your new shortcut. Name it "Word No Blank," or something similar. The shortcut is placed on your desktop. Now whenever you want to launch Word without creating a blank document, just double-click this shortcut. You can create additional shortcuts using other switches, making it easy to launch Word in a variety of ways, depending on the task at hand.

From the descriptions in Table 6-1, you can see that there are three main themes to startup switches: troubleshooting startup problems, launching further Word sessions, and opening the files you need. Let's take a closer look at how to use the more useful switches.

6.3.1.1 Troubleshooting problems

If you have Word 2002 or Word 2003, use the /safe switch to recover from Word crashing on startup. If Word still will not run with several of the leading potential sources of instability [Hack #51] eliminated, use the /r switch to register Word. If even this does no good, you may need to reinstall Word.

6.3.1.2 Running further sessions of Word

One Word session at a time is enough for most mortals. After all, you can open dozens of documents, each in its own window, in one session. But sometimes you need another Word session for testing or for performing special tasks.

The switches /n and /w will start a new instance of Word, but remember that Normal.dot acts as a choke point for saving any modifications you might make in a second or subsequent session of Word. If you save changes to Normal.dot in one session, it will overwrite any changes saved to Normal.dot from previous sessions.

Usually, this problem emerges when you exit each session in turn, and the second or subsequent session warns you that Normal.dot already exists and asks if you want to replace it (see Figure 6-4). Click the Yes button to replace Normal.dot, click the Cancel button to return to the Word session, or click the No button to save this version of Normal.dot under a different name or in a different folder (you can then manually integrate the changes to this version of Normal.dot with the changes to the other versions laterif you can remember the changes you made).

Figure 6-4. When you run multiple Word sessions, you may get into situations where you've changed two or more copies of Normal.dot and cannot easily save changes without overwriting the current Normal.dot

6.3.1.3 Opening one or more files

Perhaps the most popular use of startup switches is to quickly open the documents you need. You can use the /mfilen switch to open one of the files on the most recently used (MRU) list [Hack #13] . The pathname\filename switch is even more useful because it lets you specify any files you want. To open multiple files, put a space between the names:

winword "z:\public\Strategic Plan.doc" c:\private\my_subversive_novel.doc

Again, note that if the filename or pathname includes a space, you'll need to put quotes around the entire name.

6.3.2 Hacking the Hack

You can use the startup switch /m to run a macro and gain full control over a Word session you launch. You can use this switch to do anything from running a custom application (for example, one that gathers user input through user forms, executes a task, and then quits) to simply setting up the Word window for quick work.

In theory, you can use the /t switch together with the /m switch to run a macro in a new document based on a specific template. However, it works much better if you store the macro in Normal.dot and then use the /m switch to run the macro on startup.

The following short macro automatically opens a document in two windows: one window for editing in full-screen Print Preview, and the other window showing an outline at Level 3. It also minimizes the second window to keep it out of the way until you need it.

Sub Set_Up_Word_Window( )
' Opens another window, applies Outline view, and minimizes it
' Applies Print Preview and editing view to the main window
With ActiveWindow
.NewWindow
Windows(1).Activate
.WindowState = wdWindowStateNormal
.Left = 0
.View = wdOutlineView
.View.ShowHeading 3
.Caption = "Outline View"
Windows(2).Activate
Windows(1).WindowState = wdWindowStateMinimize
End With
ActiveDocument.PrintPreview
CommandBars("Print Preview").Visible = False
With ActiveWindow
.View.Magnifier = False
.DisplayHorizontalScrollBar = False
.WindowState = wdWindowStateMaximize
.Caption = "Editing View"
End With
End Sub

To run the macro, specify the document to open and then use the /m switch with the macro name:

winword "D:\Projects\Pergelisol Tragedy.doc" /mSet_Up_Word_Window

This method has one big advantage: it lets you run the macro selectively. If you used an AutoMacro [Hack #60] instead, the macro would run every time you started Word.

Guy Hart-Davis